Evidence indicates lower risks of oral and esophageal cancers when people reduce or cease alcohol use, according to a Special Report from a working group of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). The organization also identified gaps in research on alcohol-associated cancers, including oral, pharyngeal, laryngeal, esophageal (squamous-cell), liver (hepatocellular), colorectal, and breast cancers.
“On the basis of the epidemiologic evidence (in particular, large studies of long-term alcohol cessation), the Working Group concluded that alcohol reduction or cessation decreases the risk of oral cancer and esophageal cancer. The review also revealed scientific gaps on some or all alcohol-related cancers, including the duration of cessation necessary to observe a reduced risk, reduction in consumption, patterns of consumption over the life course, risk of molecular or anatomical subtypes of cancer, and biologic mechanisms that mediate variations in the associations of duration of cessation. Addressing these gaps would strengthen the epidemiologic and mechanistic evidence on the potential benefits of alcohol reduction or cessation in cancer causation and thus indirectly further support alcohol-control measures to reduce consumption.”